The Giver Essay
Could you ever imagine living in a community where there are no feelings, memories of the past, or color. In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, the main character Jonas is singled out to become the new Receiver of Memory for his community that strives to be perfect by stopping emotions, taking away color, memories of the past, and many other things, except for the Receiver. He learns about Elsewhere, the real truth about life, through memories he is given, both good and bad. He is not allowed to tell anyone about his training or experience, but he wants everyone to experience the memories that they could never have. Then he watches a video of release, and flips out when his dad killed a baby. For the community, he plans to escape with the Giver.
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But he scrapped the plan and escapes early from the community to save a baby named Gabe and struggles to get Elsewhere. Through this story, by showing us that people in the community have a very unsubstantial life due to the lack of emotion, we can see that “a life without emotion is a pointless life”.
To start, Jonas, on pages 35 and 36, started getting stirrings about Fiona. Stirring were treated by pills which sucked the emotion of love out of your brain, leaving the citizens without any memories of love. After Jonas was selected to be the new Receiver, he learn about love after the memory of the family on a holiday was transmitted to him on page 123. “The small child went and sat on the lap of the
Hope 2 old woman, and she rocked him and rubbed her cheek against his.” This is part of his memory of what I can inference is Christmas. After he lives the memory, he tells the Giver that he likes the feeling of love.
On page 129, it says, “The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.” This shows that Jonas wanted to have love in his life, and that without the emotion of love, his life would be pointless and futile. It also shows, when it says that something had grown through the memories, that he knows, after the memories he was given, that, now that he knows about love, he needs to have love in his life.
Next, on page 150, Jonas thought, “He killed it! My father killed it!” This is when his father released the smaller twin that was born. When he released him, he injected a needle into him and “put him to sleep”. Jonas’ father didn’t have emotions, so this was an easy chore for him. With emotions, anyone forced to kill a baby would break down into tears after they killed the kid, and they wouldn’t ever say, “Bye-bye, little guy” (Lowry 151). After Jonas watched the release of the twin, Jonas finally realized that a life without emotion is a pointless life, because he sees that people don’t even have feelings when they kill people. He sees that people need emotions to create a life that has a meaning, and a life where people know what they are doing. After the release, the Giver and Jonas plan to escape from the community to share emotions with the people of the community.
Also, on pages 132-135, Asher, Fiona, and many other kids, on the unscheduled holiday, played game of good guys and bad guys, which is practically a game of war.
This made Jonas break down after he recalled the memory of the battlefield. “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy
Hope 3 who had lain dying on the field and had begged him for water. He had a sudden choking feeling, as if it were difficult to breath” (Lowry 134-135). This moment shows that kids don’t have feelings when they “kill” other kids. They even laugh when they are “killed”. “Several of them stopped, grabbed their own shoulders and chests with exaggerated gestures, and they pretended to be hit. They drop to the ground and lay suppressing giggles” (Lowry 133). They don’t know what they are actually doing, because they don’t have the emotions to know about playing “war” and using “guns” and “murdering” is wrong. Jonas realizes that all the kids need emotions to realize what they are actually doing.
Engo, a life without emotion is a senseless life. In a life without emotion, your parents would never love you, you would never love anyone, and you wouldn’t be sad if someone died. I could never imagine not having my loving family with me. The feeling of my family not loving me would be appalling. Could you ever imagine not having
emotion?
But he scrapped the plan and escapes early from the community to save a baby named Gabe and struggles to get Elsewhere. Through this story, by showing us that people in the community have a very unsubstantial life due to the lack of emotion, we can see that “a life without emotion is a pointless life”.
To start, Jonas, on pages 35 and 36, started getting stirrings about Fiona. Stirring were treated by pills which sucked the emotion of love out of your brain, leaving the citizens without any memories of love. After Jonas was selected to be the new Receiver, he learn about love after the memory of the family on a holiday was transmitted to him on page 123. “The small child went and sat on the lap of the
Hope 2 old woman, and she rocked him and rubbed her cheek against his.” This is part of his memory of what I can inference is Christmas. After he lives the memory, he tells the Giver that he likes the feeling of love.
On page 129, it says, “The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.” This shows that Jonas wanted to have love in his life, and that without the emotion of love, his life would be pointless and futile. It also shows, when it says that something had grown through the memories, that he knows, after the memories he was given, that, now that he knows about love, he needs to have love in his life.
Next, on page 150, Jonas thought, “He killed it! My father killed it!” This is when his father released the smaller twin that was born. When he released him, he injected a needle into him and “put him to sleep”. Jonas’ father didn’t have emotions, so this was an easy chore for him. With emotions, anyone forced to kill a baby would break down into tears after they killed the kid, and they wouldn’t ever say, “Bye-bye, little guy” (Lowry 151). After Jonas watched the release of the twin, Jonas finally realized that a life without emotion is a pointless life, because he sees that people don’t even have feelings when they kill people. He sees that people need emotions to create a life that has a meaning, and a life where people know what they are doing. After the release, the Giver and Jonas plan to escape from the community to share emotions with the people of the community.
Also, on pages 132-135, Asher, Fiona, and many other kids, on the unscheduled holiday, played game of good guys and bad guys, which is practically a game of war.
This made Jonas break down after he recalled the memory of the battlefield. “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy
Hope 3 who had lain dying on the field and had begged him for water. He had a sudden choking feeling, as if it were difficult to breath” (Lowry 134-135). This moment shows that kids don’t have feelings when they “kill” other kids. They even laugh when they are “killed”. “Several of them stopped, grabbed their own shoulders and chests with exaggerated gestures, and they pretended to be hit. They drop to the ground and lay suppressing giggles” (Lowry 133). They don’t know what they are actually doing, because they don’t have the emotions to know about playing “war” and using “guns” and “murdering” is wrong. Jonas realizes that all the kids need emotions to realize what they are actually doing.
Engo, a life without emotion is a senseless life. In a life without emotion, your parents would never love you, you would never love anyone, and you wouldn’t be sad if someone died. I could never imagine not having my loving family with me. The feeling of my family not loving me would be appalling. Could you ever imagine not having
emotion?